About Me

I'm a Christian, married, father of five, and worked as a high school teacher of English and History for twenty five years. The stress forced me into retirement. I've wanted to write as long as I can remember, because as soon as stories were read to me I wanted to make up my own.Now I can write full time, which I always wanted to do.

Friday, June 13, 2014

Are you blaming me?

News tonight reports hundreds of women and small children, some children unaccompanied, getting into the United States illegally then handing themselves in and wanting to be allowed to stay. The same sort of thing happens in Australia, although it's a bit harder because we don't have land borders with any other nation. They come by boat or plane instead. And wherever it happens, sanctimonious opportunists follow, calling themselves caring people by claiming the moral high ground.
Now real refugees have a need for help, but like any other worthy cause, this one gets exploited unscrupulously and self righteously. I would never want to be unsympathetic to those in real need, but I won't be bullied and morally blackmailed by humbug; and there are some dishonest claims being made in regard to illegal arrivals.
The illegal arrivals, whether genuine refugees or not, are housed, not abandoned in the wilderness.. In the U.S. case reported tonight, emergency accommodation has been set up. And we see various self styled commentators loudly condemning the U.S. Government because the accommodation is not five star. I'm using an analogy here. Suppose fifty people turned up at someone's house, wanting to be taken in, and the house owner is criticized because they can't find a bedroom and a banquet for all of them? Why are they being treated as though these people were their responsibility?
The U.S. Government is not responsible for the citizens of other nations. If they enter the country in an illicit way, so that it is not possible or mandatory to plan for them, why is the U.S. Government to blame? It's the same with our Australian Federal Government. Some fifty thousand people arrived by boat before a change of government and a new policy that put a stop to it. Fifty thousand extra people are not easy to cater for without proper notice and planning, and our government is NOT responsible for the citizens of other nations. If they are genuine refugees, which past experience shows they may NOT be at all, then they have claims under the U.N. Charter. But it is absurd sanctimony for critics to stand there abusing the government because it can't lay out a lavish reception for them. We have our own poor and disaster victims to look after too. Some of the unauthorized arrivals are wannabe migrants trying to jump the queue by claiming refugee status. They do not have a true and legitimate claim to residence in the country they enter. And even where the arrivals are genuine refugees, the country in which they arrive may have its own resources stretched providing for them. Both the countries discussed here have suffered major natural disasters, and their own citizens need support and financial assistance to recover. We have to consider those before someone tells us we have to look after thousands of other countries' citizens as well. People who enter without permission or notice should not think that facilities are all laid out for them as a matter of right. The worst part of this is that the attitudes of people become hardened. I would never want to deny someone in real need, if I could help them, but I won't be told that I have to give up our own family's stuff to some outsider who demands it by gate crashing the country without permission. Self righteous critics walking around sounding off are an insult to genuine social conscience - in my humble opinion.